Belton trailer park closing after years of losses

Attorney: park has lost money monthly since 2007

Alice Lawrence jokes with her husband, Roy, as he packs items from the kitchen of their trailer.

Anderson Independent Mail

BELTON - As residents of a trailer park packed their belongings, a lawyer explained Wednesday why they are being forced to leave.

The trailer park on Longshore Drive has been losing money every month since 2007, said Anderson attorney William E. Phillips.

Phillips represents George P. Hammett III, who has the legal duty to oversee his mother’s assets, which include the 6.88-acre park that is home to about 15 resident-owned trailers. Hammett receives $100 a month rent for each occupied lot and pays for the residents’ water service and trash collection.

Earlier this month, Phillips sent a letter to each resident telling them to “vacate the premises” by April 6.

Some of the residents have lived in the park for more than a decade. Several say they cannot afford to move their trailers elsewhere. A few insist they have nowhere to go. At least one woman has vowed that she and her five daughters are staying put no matter what happens.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Phillips said he understands that his client’s decision to close the park “may create financial hardships” for some residents.

But Phillips said that Hammett has a “fiduciary obligation” to manage his mother’s affairs in a responsible manner.

Phillips said eviction proceedings will likely be used to remove any residents who stay past next month’s deadline.

The trailer park is for sale with an asking price of $99,000. Last week, real estate agents told residents that a potential buyer had come forward who was willing to let them remain there, said Alice Lawrence, who has lived at the park for 15 years.

“Everyone got excited,” Lawrence said.

But the deal fell through.

Phillips said the potential buyer’s offer was contingent on so many repairs being made that the “sale would not have been profitable.”

The looming deadline is creating stress for Lawrence and her husband, Roy, who goes by the nickname Wolf.

“We almost got a divorce over it,” he said.

They are in poor health and struggling financially.

Alice Lawrence said she has experienced symptoms of mini-strokes in the past few days. Her husband is still recovering from a heart attack. He recently spent $6,000 buying and fixing up a trailer in the park for his stepdaughter after her husband was killed in traffic accident last year.

Roy Lawrence, who served 20 years in prison for shooting a man who owed him money, said he is angry that Hammett has not met with him and other residents living in the park.

“If you are going to do something, be a man and talk to me,” Lawrence said.

Ray Bell has lived in the park for 13 years. Confederate flags hang in the windows of his single-wide trailer, and a sign on the front door warns: “Beware of Cat.”

He is going to move next month to another trailer on property owned by relatives in the Cheddar community.